(1951 December 15)
We are out of spirit gum for Wise Men's beards, none in Richland Center, and I may drop you a card to bring it [from Madison], so stand by. KJ may have ordered it??
June 30, 2009
June 29, 2009
Oilcloth
(1951 July 15)
Today I went to town for white oilcloth to line all kitchen drawers. Mr. Pease took measurements and ruled them all out in outline form on wrong side of oilcloth with dimensions pencilled on each square and "waste" marking unused pieces. Such supreme service!
Today I went to town for white oilcloth to line all kitchen drawers. Mr. Pease took measurements and ruled them all out in outline form on wrong side of oilcloth with dimensions pencilled on each square and "waste" marking unused pieces. Such supreme service!
June 25, 2009
Egg timers
(1951 August 8)
Will you please look in 5 & 10 for egg timers. Would like 2, one for each bathroom. Dentist wants us to brush our teeth 3 minutes. It would greatly help MM (and all of us). The only one in town I have found is a very homely china doll holding one and is 25 cents! They used to be very common at 10 cents.
Will you please look in 5 & 10 for egg timers. Would like 2, one for each bathroom. Dentist wants us to brush our teeth 3 minutes. It would greatly help MM (and all of us). The only one in town I have found is a very homely china doll holding one and is 25 cents! They used to be very common at 10 cents.
June 24, 2009
Big Bertha
(1990s)
[This is a fragment intended for Polly's memoirs, probably written in 1990s.]
It was during the first world war [1917-1918] when our family, father, mother, I and little brother lived in the country near Taycheetah, Wisconsin. My father, a landscape gardener, regretted not being able to take a factory job nearby at Fond du Lac, but he was loyal to my mother, Minnie [dying of TB], and never left her side as long as she lived.
We got along by hiring a hired girl, Bertha, and got her only because she spoke only German that we could understnd, although [she also spoke] another Romanian language none of us had ever heard before.
When we needed groceries, my mother would write a list and send Bertha with it to the nearby Post Office--Grocery, telling her to bring back the small articles and leave the 50-pound sack of flour for one of the men to bring home later. Deliberately misunderstanding.... [the fragment ends here but you can guess the rest].
[This is a fragment intended for Polly's memoirs, probably written in 1990s.]
It was during the first world war [1917-1918] when our family, father, mother, I and little brother lived in the country near Taycheetah, Wisconsin. My father, a landscape gardener, regretted not being able to take a factory job nearby at Fond du Lac, but he was loyal to my mother, Minnie [dying of TB], and never left her side as long as she lived.
We got along by hiring a hired girl, Bertha, and got her only because she spoke only German that we could understnd, although [she also spoke] another Romanian language none of us had ever heard before.
When we needed groceries, my mother would write a list and send Bertha with it to the nearby Post Office--Grocery, telling her to bring back the small articles and leave the 50-pound sack of flour for one of the men to bring home later. Deliberately misunderstanding.... [the fragment ends here but you can guess the rest].
June 23, 2009
Beefing
(1994 November 29)
A large girl, Margie, sits across from me, speaks in a loud voice. Waitresses try to calm her down. "I SAID I DON'T WANT ANY MORE MEAT. I CAN'T CUT WHAT I HAVE ON MY PLATE." Eve says in her small voice, "Can I cut it for you?" Margie cannot hear her - I am the only one at that table with all my faculties.
Margie: "What was Emily doing here anyway?"
Waitress: "What are you talking about? There's no Emily here."
Margie: "There was."
Waitress: "Eat your supper, Margie."
Margie: "I'm trying to, but I can't cut my meat. Too tough."
Polly: "Margie is right. It was Emily Pemberton."
Then others remember her and her husband. So the waitress said: "She's not here now." And we go back to cutting our tough beef.
A large girl, Margie, sits across from me, speaks in a loud voice. Waitresses try to calm her down. "I SAID I DON'T WANT ANY MORE MEAT. I CAN'T CUT WHAT I HAVE ON MY PLATE." Eve says in her small voice, "Can I cut it for you?" Margie cannot hear her - I am the only one at that table with all my faculties.
Margie: "What was Emily doing here anyway?"
Waitress: "What are you talking about? There's no Emily here."
Margie: "There was."
Waitress: "Eat your supper, Margie."
Margie: "I'm trying to, but I can't cut my meat. Too tough."
Polly: "Margie is right. It was Emily Pemberton."
Then others remember her and her husband. So the waitress said: "She's not here now." And we go back to cutting our tough beef.
June 22, 2009
Picnic
(1994 August)
Last week we had a picnic. All two floors of us gathered in the basement and on paper divided plates in cafeteria lines we stood in line for baked beans, potato salad, cabbage salad, sandwiches, with cakes passed in tins they were baked in. I did not think it very successful myself.
(1994 August 19)
As time goes on odd facts appear. Talking to Ellen (maid) yesterday I found the real reason everyone was taken to the basement on this Picnic was to vacate the dining room so it could be painted! I must say I haven't noticed any change. I'll look again and report.
Last week we had a picnic. All two floors of us gathered in the basement and on paper divided plates in cafeteria lines we stood in line for baked beans, potato salad, cabbage salad, sandwiches, with cakes passed in tins they were baked in. I did not think it very successful myself.
(1994 August 19)
As time goes on odd facts appear. Talking to Ellen (maid) yesterday I found the real reason everyone was taken to the basement on this Picnic was to vacate the dining room so it could be painted! I must say I haven't noticed any change. I'll look again and report.
June 21, 2009
County Fair
(1994 September)
I have been writing for FR who sits at my table and is very kind but always opens each day's conversation with "I lost 2% of my vision today." At least that is the way he answered me when I asked him if he had a good time at the [Richland County] fair.
I enjoyed the Fair but I have had better times at it when I was younger and not carted round in a wheelchair where two kind girls wanted to go. But it was a fair day with only one menacing sprinkle of rain. The Ferris wheel was alligators after each other's tails. [Sketch of 3 gators in a circle, each biting the next one's tail.] You get the idea. We were gone 1-3 and that was OK. Time enough.
I have been writing for FR who sits at my table and is very kind but always opens each day's conversation with "I lost 2% of my vision today." At least that is the way he answered me when I asked him if he had a good time at the [Richland County] fair.
I enjoyed the Fair but I have had better times at it when I was younger and not carted round in a wheelchair where two kind girls wanted to go. But it was a fair day with only one menacing sprinkle of rain. The Ferris wheel was alligators after each other's tails. [Sketch of 3 gators in a circle, each biting the next one's tail.] You get the idea. We were gone 1-3 and that was OK. Time enough.
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